Changeable game board



CHAN GEABLE GAME BOARD Martin D. Gitelson, 8504 Hood St., Takoma Park, and Robert L. Folstein, 100'5 Osage St., Silver Spring Md.

Filed Feb. 3, 1959, Ser. No. 790,832 2 Claims. (Cl. 273-130) The present invention relates to a changeable game board and particularly to such a board for use in-games of the tic-tac-toe type.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a game board formed of a plurality of flexibly connected sections which can be folded to present a plurality of game board surfaces.

Another object of the invention is to provide a game board of the class described above which includes a plurality of flexibly connected sections with each of the sections having opposed writing surfaces formed thereon.

A further object of the invention is to provide a game board of the class described above having a plurality of overlapping tic-tac-toe boards arranged in folding interchangeable relation.

Other objects and advantage will become apparent in the following specification when considered in light of the attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the invention shown in one position;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of the device illustrated in Figure 1 during a folding operation;

Figure 3 is an enlarged transverse cross-section taken along the line 33 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 4 is an enlarged transverse cross section taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 5 is a plan view of the blank from which the game board is formed prior to its initial folding; and

Figure 6 is a semi-diagrammatic illustration of the game board in several folded positions.

Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein like reference characters indicate like parts throughout the several figures, the reference numeral 10 indicates generally a game board constructed in accordance with the invention.

The game board 10 includes a flat generally rectangular elongated plastic plate 11 and a second identical plate 12. Five (5) generally rectangular flat plastic panels 13 are arranged in a row interposed between the upper ends of the plates 11, 12 and are hingedly connected together and to the plates 11, 12 by means of flexible fabric hinges 14 adhesively secured thereto. Five generally rectangular flat plastic panels 15, identical to the panels 13, are arranged between the lower ends of the plates 11, 12 are hingedly secured thereto by flexible fabric hinges 14.

A center row of five (5) generally rectangular flat plastic panels 16 are arranged between the upper row of panels 13 and the lower row of panels 15, extending between the plates 11, 12. The panels 16 are secured together by flexible fabric hinges 14 and are secured to the plates 11, 12 by similar hinges 14.

In Figure 5 the relationship of the plates 11, 12 and the panels 13, 15, 16 are illustrated prior to the initial folding of the game board 10. In the initial folding of the game board 10 the center row of panels 16 are 2,949,306 Patented Aug. 16,1960.

connected to the plate 11, but are not connected to the plate 12. The center row of panels 16 is then folded over the plate 11 and is then wound spirally around plate 11 until only the panel 16 closest to the plate 12 projects from the plate 11 toward the plate 12. The upper row of panels 13 and the lower row of panels 15 are connected to the plates 11, 12 by means of the fabric hinges 14 and the plate 12 is folded under the panels 13, 15 until it underlies the panels 13, 15 once removed from the plate 11. In this position, the plates 11, 12 are spaced apart by the width of one panel 13, 15, 16 and the center row of panels 16 are connected thereto.

Insofar as the panels 13, 15, 16 are concerned, the plates 11, 12 may be considered to be mandrels on which the rows of panels 13, 15, 16 are wound. At the beginning point the center row of panels 16 is wound on the plate 11 and the upper and lower rows of panels 13, 15 are wound on the plate 12. By simultaneously rotating the plates 11, 12 the upper and lower rows of panels 13, 15 can be unwound from the plate 12 while being wound on the plate 11, while simultaneously the same rotation of the plates 11, 12 will unwind the center row of panels 16 from the plate 11 while winding it on the plate 12.

The plastic plates 11, 12 and the plastic panels 13, 15, 16 have their opposed faces formed with indicia receiving surfaces to permit pencil marks to be made thereon, and erased therefrom.

In order to more clearly describe the action of the surfaces of the panels 13, 15, 16 during the folding operation, the upper row of panels 13 and the adjacent portions of plates 11, 12 have been lettered A through G, as seen in Figure 5. The center row of panels 16 and the adjacent portions of plates 11, 12 have been lettered H through N, while the lower row of panels 15 and the adjacent portions of plates 11, 12 have been lettered 0 through U, inclusive. The reverse side of each of the panels 13, 15, 16 and the plates 11, 12 should be considered to have the same letter thereon followed by a prime mark.

In Figure 1, the rows of panels 13, 15 are wound on the plate 12 while the center row of panels 16 is wound on the plate 11. In this position, the letters A, B, C, L, M, N, d O, P, Q e exposed i three vertically spaced rows of three letters each. On the first step of rotating the plates 11, 12, the letters r, C, D, K, L, NI, and or, Q, are exposed in three vertically spaced rows of three letters each, as illustrated in the left-hand side of Figure 6.

On the second step, the letters 3', D, E, J, K, M, and P', R, S are exposed, while on the third Step, the letters CI, E, F, I, J, LI, Q', S, T are exposed. In the last stage of rotation of the plates 11, 12, as illustrated in the right-hand side of Figure 6, the letters D', F, G, H, I, Kr, and RI, T, U are exposed As can be clearly seen from Figures 1 and 6, the five stages of rotation of the plates 11, 12 produce five considerably varied combinations of nine faces to receive indicia thereon. Obviously, the available combination of faces when viewed from the opposite side of the game board 10 will be somewhat different from those disclosed above, and will provide an additional five combination possibilities of nine squares each.

The panel 16 adjacent the plate 12 is provided with upper and lower tape strips 17 on both faces thereof to indicate the center panel of a starting game board combination.

The game board 10 is utilized in playing a game of the tic-tac-toe variety with two or more players, each making his mark in a selected square with the game board being changed from the position shown in Figure 1 t0 the five steps on one side of the board, whereupon the boardis inverted and playcontinues as before through the five steps on the opposite side. Play continues in like manner until three similar characters are arranged in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal row, in the same manner as tic-tac-toe. While there has been disclosed above a specific manner of play, utilizing the game board 10, it should be understood that other methods may be used without departing from the scope of the invention as claimed below.

In the disclosure above, the panels 13, 15, 16 have been illustrated as hingedly connected by flexible fabric hinges 14 and it should be understood that various hinge structures may be used in lieu of the flexible fabric hinges 14, if found desirable.

Having thus described the preferred embodiment of the invention, it should be understood that numerous structural modifications and adaptations in addition to those enumerated may be resorted to without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is: i

1. A game board comprising a pair of elongated gen erally fiat rectangular plates, upper and lower rows of panels hingedly secured together and to the upper and lower portions respectively of said plates, at center row of panels hingedly secured together and to the central portions of said plates, with all but one panel of each of said upper and lower rows of panels wound completely about one of said plates and all but one panel of said central row of panels wound completely about the other of said plates whereby said plates may be simultaneously rotated to unwind the respective panels thereon while simultaneously winding them on the opposite plate.

2, A device as'claimed in claim 1 wherein said panels and said plates are each provided with opposed indicia receiving surfaces with said game board having only nine indicia receiving surfaces exposed simultaneously on each side of said game board when said game board is properly folded.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,092,583 Michael Sept. 7, 1937 2,250,093 Comroe July 22, 1941 2,310,711 Savage Feb. 9, 1943 2,364,814 Plummet Dec. 12, 1944 2,408,270 Rebholz Sept. 24, 1946 2,751,228 Rojo June 19, 1956 2,809,467 St. Pierre Oct. 15, 1957 2,872,215 Taylor Feb. 3, 1959 2,915,842 Finnell Dec. 8, 1959 

